Texas Politics Project: Blogs: James Henson

Competition Remains Fierce in Both U.S. Senate Primaries in Texas, According to Latest UT/Texas Politics Project Poll.

James Henson, Joshua Blank — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 09:01:20 -0600

The latest UT/Texas Politics Project Poll finds the three-way Republican race remains likely headed to a run-off, while Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett maintains her advantage in the Democratic contest, even as State Representative James Talarico continues making inroads among a Democratic electorate to whom he was largely unknown prior to his first statewide campaign

Texas Republicans Remain Loyal to Trump While His Job Approval Sags Among Other Groups

James Henson, Joshua Blank — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 08:20:37 -0600

With President Donald Trump delivering his State of the Union Address Tuesday night, the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds the president hanging on to his support among Texas Republicans even as he struggles with stubbornly low ratings from Texans outside his base, and with slipping approval of his performance on key economic areas of concern to most Texans.

The Audience(s) for James Talarico’s Progressive Christianity in the Democratic Primary

James Henson, Joshua Blank — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 10:28:55 -0600

Just how State Representative James Talarico's progressive Christian theology lands with the primary electorate he needs to win over to gain the nomination is an open question - a question not as straightforward as it might seem.

Skepticism About Texas Efforts to Improve Grid Resilience Adds to Winter Weather Worries

James Henson, Joshua Blank — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 17:22:28 -0600

If the anxiety about winter weather is a more or less rational response to both a credible threat and widely shared experience of just how bad things can be during such weather events, many Texans’ fear of the impact of weather reflects post-Uri patterns in public opinion about the reliability of the Texas grid, expectations that state government should be acting to make the grid more reliant than it was in 2021, and a lack of confidence in what political leadership of the state had done to prepare for the next crisis.

With 2026 elections just over the horizon, economic concerns deepen in new UT/Texas Politics Project Poll

James Henson, Joshua Blank — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 18:14:27 -0600

Amidst a prolonged federal government shutdown and one year away from the 2026 election, the October 2025 Texas Politics Project poll finds Texas voters reporting worsening personal economic conditions, with increasingly pessimistic views of the wider economy and the direction of the state and country.

Second Reading Podcast: Assessing the State of the Constitutional Order in the U.S.

James Henson — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 15:35:05 -0500

Comparative constitutional scholar Zachary Elkins of UT Austin joins James Henson to discuss the state of Constitutional features like the separation of powers and checks and balances during the norms-challenging Trump presidency.

Texas voters give mixed reviews to the special session agenda while worries about the economy and prices persist in latest UT/Texas Politics Project Poll

James Henson, Joshua Blank — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 13:24:03 -0500

The August 2025 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds Texas voters in broad agreement with the call to respond to issues related to flooding and more reductions in property taxes, but show significant partisan divisions in response to the drawing of new maps and most other issues on the special session agenda – and finds voters still worried about the economy.

Second Reading: Change vs. more of the same

James Henson — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 17:36:08 -0500

Ross Ramsey, co-founder and former executive editor of The Texas Tribune, joins James Henson and Joshua Blank to assess to consider the nature and durability of changes in Texas politics and institutions evident during the 89th Texas Legislature

Second Reading: The tricky politics of agenda management as the Texas Legislature reluctantly returns for a special session

James Henson — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 19:29:09 -0500

With adopting the new Congressional maps ordered by Donald Trump and response to the July 4 floods at the top of the agenda, James Henson and Joshua Blank talk about the politics of agenda management as the Texas Legislature prepares to return to the Capitol next week for a politically-fraught special session.

Second Reading Podcast: Public Opinion and the Big Unresolved Issues Pending in the Texas Legislature

James Henson — Thu, 15 May 2025 19:16:50 -0500

James Henson and Joshua Blank look at the big issues still pending in the Texas Legislature, including property taxes, education funding, water, the budget, bail, THC products, and more as deadline pressures suffocate House bills. Also: #txlege theme songs.

Texas Public Opinion and the 89th Legislature Endgame

Joshua Blank, James Henson — Tue, 13 May 2025 12:22:48 -0500

The April 2025 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll contained many items probing Texans' attitudes about policy and spending priorities, as well as attitudes about more specific policy proposals invested in bills now being discussed in the legislature.

Latest UT/Texas Politics Project Poll: Economic Uncertainty Hurts Trump Ratings in Texas, Looms Over the Legislature

Joshua Blank, James Henson — Thu, 15 May 2025 17:48:44 -0500

After a brief post-election honeymoon in Texas, President Donald J. Trump’s job approval ratings have fallen back to levels found during his first term in office, as Texans’ widespread economic concerns persist amidst the President’s ongoing trade war, according to a new University of Texas / Texas Politics project Poll. With 47% of Texas voters approving of the job he is doing as President and 46% disapproving, Trump barely remains in net-positive territory in Texas, though.

Support Student Research at the Texas Politics Project

James Henson — Tue, 13 May 2025 12:30:31 -0500

For the first time, the Texas Politics Project is joining other UT entities and organizations in the 40 Hours for the Forty Acres campaign. You can support our efforts to fund more undergraduate research assistants, who learn about working with polling data and other primary research materials as part of close collaboration with Texas Politics Project researchers.

Texas Views of Trump Administration Immigration Tactics as a New Lawsuit Challenges Policy on Enforcement at Schools, Hospitals, and Churches

James Henson — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 23:36:49 -0500

As legal challenges to the Trump administration's deportation tactics mount, Texas Politics Project polling reveals the sources of support in Texas for immigration enforcement at churches, schools, and hospitals – and its limits.

If at first you don’t succeed…ESA’s are back in the House

James Henson, Joshua Blank — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 10:50:50 -0500

The basic configuration of public opinion before, during, and now in the wake of millions spent on advocacy and campaigning has been fairly apparent in University of Texas/Texas Politics Project polling over the last few years.

Prices, Prices, Prices

James Henson — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 16:02:14 -0500

Amidst all the arguments about the second Trump administration’s economic and trade policies and their consequences, Texas voters remain deeply concerned about the prices they are paying for most anything that matters.

Why Texas Leaders Can’t Escape The Politics of Property Taxes

James Henson, Joshua Blank — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 16:28:51 -0500

The February University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll illustrated, not for the first time, that the latest battle in Texas Republican leaders’ forever war on property taxes is fueled in part by many voters’ views that those taxes have a burdensome effect on their finances – and that lawmakers’ past efforts have done little to relieve those burdens.

Texas Views of RFK Jr. and vaccines as the U.S. Senate confirms Kennedy as HHS secretary

James Henson, Joshua Blank — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 11:28:22 -0600

UT/TxPP polling suggests that while Kennedy himself has achieved a degree of favorable reviews among a non-trivial share of Texas voters (though a declining share over time), views of the safety and efficacy of vaccines remain significantly less widespread than the mainstreaming of RFK, Jr. as a public figure might suggest.

Donald Trump maintains a lead in Texas but Kamala Harris narrows the gap amidst a surge in Democratic enthusiasm in new University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll

James Henson, Joshua Blank — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 14:11:41 -0500

The latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds former president Donald Trump leading Vice-President Kamala Harris 49% to 44% in a head-to-head match-up in the presidential race in Texas. Nine percent chose an unspecified “someone else,” and 6% were undecided. This result follows a June UT/Texas Politics Project Poll in which then-candidate Joe Biden trailed Trump by 7 points, 46% to 39%.

Transforming the Problem into the Solution

James Henson, Joshua Blank — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 14:20:06 -0600

As the grim particulars of the Sutherland Springs shooting have become known in the days since the incident, the fact that a bystander armed with a rifle of his own shot the perpetrator and gave chase crucially transforms the terrain of the political interpretation of the shootings. The presence of an armed citizen "shooting in the opposite direction," as President Donald Trump put it hours after the killings, activates partisan attitudes about guns in Texas that can be effectively mobilized by advocates and political leaders to stifle discussion of adding even the most mild restrictions on access to, or ownership, of guns. The trope that the best antidote to gun violence by bad (or even sick) people is good people with guns resonates sufficiently with the right audience of Republicans so as to effectively seal off discussions outside the status quo.

Monkey Business? Texas Data Points from the Week in Politics – September 9, 2016

James Henson, Joshua Blank — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 14:08:41 -0500

The traditional post-Labor Day intensification of the presidential campaign didn’t disappoint, as the week began with the release of a massive 50-state poll from the Washington Post and Survey Monkey that put Texas in the national discussion of presidential polling (if you’re into that sort of thing). Donald Trump dominated campaign news at week’s-end with another round of praise for Vladimir Putin. Closer to home, several education issues heated up: the State Board of Education debated the textbook Mexican American Heritage and, well, Mexican-American heritage, Lt. Governor Patrick renewed his call to end in-state tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants, and the Texas Education Agency called for class size limits in pre-kindergarten. Read on for polling data and comment...

CBS News/NYT The Upshot/YouGov Battleground Tracker Shows Abbott Leading Davis 54%-36%

James Henson — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 14:19:08 -0500

CBS News/NYT The Upshot/YouGov Battleground Tracker Shows Cornyn Comfortably Ahead in Senate Race

James Henson — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 10:13:51 -0500

The ongoing CBS News/NYT The Upshot/YouGov Battleground Tracker released the results of their second wave of polling in the 2014 US Senate races today (in what seems like something of a soft launch). Results from the Texas Senate race find incumbent John Cornyn still holding a 20-percentage point lead over Democrat David Alameel (51-31).